AT&T Seeks a Lifeline on Land Lines

[Commentary] AT&T has proposed phasing out the old telephone network in favor of one using IP, or Internet protocol.

Not widely appreciated, AT&T, Verizon and other regulated operators are obliged to maintain the old phone service as long as customers want it, and to stand ready to provide a connection to anyone in their service territory who asks. These days that's not many: mostly the elderly and rural dwellers whose service has long been sustained by hidden subsidies possible only under a system of regulated monopolies. Coming soon: the death spiral, as fewer and fewer of these customers are left to bear the cost of maintaining the network. That's why AT&T has put before the Federal Communications Commission a plan to wean the country off POTS, or plain old telephone service, and retire the regulatory obligations that go with it. To this end, the company announced last month that it was willing to extend its fixed broadband network to several million customers in its service territory who don't yet have access. That would still leave millions of customers within the footprint of AT&T's existing phone system where the business case (i.e., absence of profits) wouldn't justify extending the broadband network.